Booknote: _Tales from Jabba's Palace (Star Wars)_

Continuing with my reading of older Star Wars series books, I just completed Tales from Jabba's Palace. The book will be enjoyed by fans of the genre, but for those wanting some exposure to the original Star Wars (by this I mean the first trilogy, which I guess is the second chronologically, though it came out first. . .you get the idea), the book will be of interest. My previous reading, Tales of the Bounty Hunters, was composed of longer works, one for each bounty hunter. Tales from Jabba's Palace includes a broader range of characters, with stories that vary in length from about three pages or so to much longer. With the broader range of characters to work with, the authors provide a diverse selection of fiction. I think this book has something for almost every taste. Readers who like endings with a twist or a surprise will find such tales here as well as fans who like narrow escapes or more suspense, for instance. Fans of Boba Fett, the notorious bounty hunter, will find a tale for him. The interesting element for fans of the genre is to see the various characters found in Jabba the Hutt's palace, many of whom only appear briefly. Each character has its own story, and as the blurp on the back cover says, some will actually live to tell about it. I am not telling who lives or not. Readers who have seen the film The Return of the Jedi are familiar with the events in the palace. The stories in the book relate those events, and they give various points of view, which adds to the interest. Some of the tales, though written by different writers, are interconnected, meaning events from one tale reappear in another, only for the tale to then move in a different direction. Overall, the book is recommended for fans as well as for readers looking for a light and entertaining reading. So far, this volume held my interest more than Tales of the Bounty Hunters. However, I do plan on reading the last volume of this series, Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, down the road. I will make a note as well when I finish. As I mentioned before, I picked up the books in a second hand store. For readers, this would be a good option, but some public libraries may still have copies as well if they have a good collection of popular science fiction and fantasy.